Old Dominion, Wofford, St. Peter's, Gonzaga Go Dancing

College Hoops Player of the Day for Monday, March 7, 2011

Big Frank Hassell dominated in the lane and the Monarchs of Old Dominion ruled over the VCU Rams, 70-65, in the Colonial Athletic Conference tournament final.

Hassell, a 6'9", 255 behemoth, scored 22 points on 8-for-9 shooting, many of his baskets dunks or easy layups on feeds from his hawk-eyed teammates. when he was harassed and fouled, Hassell was efficient at the free throw line, hitting 6 of 7 attempts. He also fell one rebound short of a double-double, grabbing nine boards.

ODU gets the automatic bid for their conference, after finishing tied for second place during the regular season with Hofstra, at 14-4. George Mason, which took the regular season with a 16-2 record, is also expected to receive an invitation to the Big Dance, via the at-large route.

NOTABLE: Two other teams punched their ticket to the NCCA tourney Monday night. Gonzaga outlasted a determined St. Mary's squad to capture the West Coast Conference tournament final, 75-63, and surprising St. Peter's upset Iona, 62-57, to grab the automatic bid from the Metro Atlantic Athletic conference. The Peacocks beat both Fairfield and Iona in the tourney after having lost all four of their regular season games against the two which finished 1-2 in the conference.

Wofford downed Charleston, 77-67, in the Southern Conference tournament final. The Terriers will represent their conference in the NCAAs for the second straight season. Last year, they were taken down in the opening round by Wisconsin, 53-49.

Nova Survives in OT; BYU over FL in 2OT; Old D. Ousts ND

Tourney 1st Round Results

BYU, which had led by as many as 13 points, needed two overtime periods to post a rare win for the Cougars over the Florida Gators, 99-92. Jimmer Fredette, one of the highest scoring players in the nation, was on the money for 37 points. The Cougars will face the winner of the Kansas St.-North Texas match-up in the West region.

Old Dominion dealt with Notre Dame's slowdown "burn" offense and added their own defensive touches, holding the Irish to 37% shooting and star Luke Harangody to a 2-for-9 effort and 4 points. The Monarchs march on to the second round with the 51-50 win.

Villanova needed to get a slew of questionable calls from the refs plus overtime in order to advance past a very capable Robert Morris squad, 73-70. The Wildcats were down by as many as 9 points and trailed the Colonials throughout the game. Villanova took 40 trips to the foul line, in comparison to just 26 for Robert Morris. Villanova played poorly most of the contest, though Scottie Reynolds managed to pull the Wildcats even late in regulation by making almost all of his free throws in the second half. He could have given Villanova the lead with under a minute remaining, but missed his only free throw of the game.